173 ORDER V. 



THE MANELESS LION. 

 PLATE XI. 



Felts leo gougeratensis. 



SOMEWHAT smaller than the African Lion,* desti- 

 tute of mane, but with a frill of long hairs under 

 the throat, and a large hushy tuft of black hair at 

 the end of the tail. A proud and noble beast, 

 though probably less enterprising than the other 

 species. It may be regarded as a mere variety, 

 even in the case of the double infra orbital foramen, 

 being the common property of all the Asiatic Lions, 

 while it is single in the African. The Maneless 

 Lion is found in Guzzerat, and westward in South- 

 ern Persia to the borders of Arabia.t 



The second genus, or rather group, is that deno- 



* Weighs about 550 pounds, or 50 less than a large African 

 Lion. The maned Asiatic species we have examined had 

 the naked part of the nose, and pads of the feet, black ; 

 those of Africa, flesh coloured. Both have the spine on the tail. 



+ It may be remarked, that this variety is the sacred Lion 

 of the most ancient Egyptian sculptures, and of the earliest 

 Budh representations of the Sing in Ceylon. Unless the 

 Wobo of Abyssinia be a Maneless Lion, it offers a collateral 

 proof of the eastern origin of the religious system of the first 

 mentioned people, for, in Upper Egypt, the Lion is maned. 

 As for the Ceylon Sing, the banks of the Indus alone v>uld 

 have furnished the type. 



